The Spirit of the Resurrection
Following my last post concerning Pentecost, I want to spend some of this season following Pentecost offering meditations on the Holy Spirit. Specifically, the direction I want to go is developing a spirituality and an understanding of life in the Spirit that accords with the primary event of Christian faith, the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. In such we will explore the interconnection between the life in the Spirit with our relationship to the earth, our bodies and other humans.
“…inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories (e.g., the resurrection and ascension).” 1 Peter 1:10
Romans 8:11 – “If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.”
The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Christ (1 Peter 1.10). In Romans 8, Paul calls it the “Spirit of him who raised Christ Jesus from the dead.” The Spirit of God is the Spirit of the Resurrection. The work of the Spirit is profoundly and essentially linked to eschatological movement towards the final resurrection, the triumph of life and the defeat of death. This emphasizes the significance and permanence of our physical bodies.
Matthew 19:28 – “Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, in the new world (the regeneration), when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”
Titus 3:4-7 – “But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”
The Holy Spirit, as the Spirit of the resurrection, is the power of the new creation, the being who infuses new life into that which has grown fragile, frail and approaching annihilation. The Spirit hails the dawn of the eschatological age, the recreation of all things and the gift of eternal vitality.
Ephesians 1.19-20 – “[that you may know] what is the immeasurable greatness of his power towards us who believe, according to the working of his great power. God put this power to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places.”
In this passage, Paul identifies the power of the Spirit at work in us, as a power at work in the body, manifesting the triumph of life over death. The primary signs of the apostles validating this testimony of Jesus were again power at work in the body, in healings, creative miracles and resuscitations (cf. Acts 3.16, etc.). Furthermore many of the climactic descriptions of God’s redemptive work in humans are descriptions of the resurrection, in which God’s power is at work in the human body.
Philippians 3.21 – “[he] will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body”
Romans 8.23-24 – “…and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved.”
1 Corinthians 15.51-54 – “Listen, I will tell you a mystery! We will not all fall asleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable and we will be changed. For this perishable body must put on imperishability, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When this perishable body puts on imperishability, and this mortal body puts on immortality, then the saying that is written will be fulfilled: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” “Where, O Death, is your victory? Where, O Death is your sting.”
1 Corinthians 15.16-19 – “For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised. If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have died in Christ have perished (are lost). If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.”
Understanding this should convince us that there is nothing inherently wrong with the physical world and bodily life. Nothing in the world God created caused our alienation and provoked the groan of all creation. None of the groan we feel is from our essential existence in the world, but rather from our broken existence in the world. The world is good. The world has been broken, but full freedom is coming.
This should free us to rejoice in the present. The Spirit’s nearness does not causes us to despise the world but join in God’s profound love of it (cf. John 3.16). As Jurgen Moltmann has said, “God’s blessing enhances vitality and does not quench the joy of living. The nearness of God makes this mortal life worth loving, not something to be despised.” In the Spirit of the Resurrection we participate now in the renewal of life and rejoice in the vitality and passion for life He gives.
Related posts
« Pentecost – The Coming of the Holy Spirit
The Practicality of Theology »
